Deathbed Gifts: At a crossroads

Adam Carvalho and Alice Kendle explore the slippery and amphibious doctrine of donatio mortis causa ‘Unless the donor revokes the gift before death, when the donor dies their personal representative holds the property on trust for the donee.’ The case of King v The Chiltern Dog Rescue [2015] (King) has clarified – and restricted – …
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Charity Law Update: Responsible giving

Peter Steer and Sarah Clune review recent developments in third sector law ‘Prudence is perhaps a rather old fashioned virtue, but it should make trustees stop and think whether what they have cleverly structured or who they are involved with is really in the best interests of the charity, or themselves.’ This article is a …
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Deathbed Gifts: Keeping control

Mark Pawlowski examines to what extent it is possible to make a deathbed gift of land ‘The handing over of keys to the house… may be capable of evidencing the passing of dominion over it because, although keys do not represent ownership of the property, they nevertheless constitute the physical means of obtaining possession.’ Essentially, …
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Section 57 Trustee Act 1925: The extent of expediency

Sukhninder Panesar considers whether s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 extends beyond variation of the management functions of a trust ‘The courts can use s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 to apportion trust funds or otherwise bring forward the timing of the distribution of trust funds provided that it is expedient to do so and …
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Vallee v Birchwood [2013] EWHC 1449 (Ch)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | July/August 2013 #131

On 6 August 2003, Cheryle Vallee (the claimant/respondent) visited her 93-year-old father Wlodzimierz Bogusz at his home. Ms Vallee, who lived abroad, told her father that she planned to visit next at Christmas. He replied that he might not be alive by then as he did not expect to live much longer. He handed over the deeds for his unregistered property, a house key, his war medals and a photograph album. The main asset of the estate was his property.

In December 2003 Mr Bogusz died intestate. Ms Vallee had been fostered and then later adopted after her mother and father’s m...

Donatio Mortis Causa: The doctrine of giving

Richard Selwyn Sharpe examines how a gift in contemplation of death is treated in the modern world ‘The gift must be conditional on the donor’s death and is therefore revocable until that event occurs. The donor sometimes expresses the intention in words to the donee that the gift is conditional on death but this is …
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